In today's world, Timeline of Arizona has become a topic of great relevance and interest to both experts and the general public. Since ancient times, Timeline of Arizona has captured the attention of humanity and has been the subject of countless research, debates and reflections. Its influence extends to various areas, from politics to culture, including science and technology. In this article, we will explore in detail the different dimensions and facets of Timeline of Arizona, analyzing its importance and impact on today's society.
The following is a timeline of the history of the area which today comprises the U.S. state of Arizona. Situated in the desert southwest, for millennia the area was home to a series of Pre-Columbian peoples. By 1 AD, the dominant groups in the area were the Hohokam, the Mogollon, and the Ancestral Puebloans (also known as the Anasazi). The Hohokam dominated the center of the area which is now Arizona, the Mogollon the southeast, and the Puebloans the north and northeast. As these cultures disappeared between 1000 and 1400 AD, other Indian groups settled in Arizona. These tribes included the Navajo, Apache, Southern Paiute, Hopi, Yavapai, Akimel O'odham, and the Tohono O'odham.
The first European presence in the state were the Spanish. In 1539 Marcos de Niza explored the area, followed by Francisco Vásquez de Coronado the following year. Spanish missionaries began to settle in the southern portion of the state, near present-day Tucson, around 1700, but did not move further north. With the construction of the Presidio San Augustin del Tucson, on August 20, 1775, Tucson became the first European city in what would become Arizona. In 1822, Arizona became part of the state of Sonora, Mexico, but most of current Arizona was transferred to the United States as a result of the Mexican–American War, with the rest transferring with the completion of the Gadsden Purchase in 1853. During the American Civil War, both sides laid claim to Arizona, although the North and South split the New Mexico/Arizona area differently: the South split the territory into north and south divisions, creating Confederate Arizona, while the northern section remained part of the United States as the New Mexico Territory; while the North in 1863, after driving Confederate forces from the Tucson area, created the Arizona Territory from the New Mexico Territory by splitting off the western section. Prescott became the territory's first capital, which would transfer to Tucson in 1867, then back to Prescott in 1877, before settling finally in Phoenix in 1889.
Arizona achieved statehood in 1912, becoming the 48th state, with Phoenix remaining the capital of the new state. In the 1900s, the state, particularly the Phoenix Metropolitan area, has seen tremendous population growth. Phoenix currently ranks as the 6th most populous city in the nation.
Pre-Columbian and Spanish eras
Pre-Columbian
ca. 9,000 BC – Paleo-Indians arrive in the southwest, including Arizona, known as the Clovis culture, they were hunter-gatherers.
ca. 4,500 BC – Maize is introduced into the southwest United States, including Arizona.
ca. 1,500 BC – Pre-Columbian Indians begin developing irrigation systems.
1,250 BC – Las Capas, slightly north of present-day Tucson, settled by pre-Columbian peoples, centered on an irrigation system.
1736 – Silver discovered on the ranch of the Basque settler, Bernardo de Urrea, near the Guevavi mission. The name of Urrea's ranch was Arizona, meaning "the good oak tree".
1751 – The O'odham people rebel against the Spanish, but the rebellion is put down.
1752 – In response to the rebellion, the Spanish construct a presidio at Tubac, the first permanent European settlement in Arizona.
1789 – One of the first Spanish land grants is bestowed to Toribio de Otero, a 63-acre ranch which remained in the Otero family until 1941.
1804 – The Spanish province of Las Californias is split, and Arizona becomes part of the new province of Alta California.
1821 – Mexico achieves independence from Spain.
1824 – The Alta California Territory was formed, which included Arizona, under the Mexican Constitution of 1824.
1825 – The first people from the fledgling United States enter Arizona, the trapper Sylvester Pattie and his son James; trapping along the San Francisco, Gila, and San Pedro rivers.
The most southern section of Arizona becomes part of the United States per Gadsden Purchase.
Lieutenant Amiel Weeks Whipple led a surveying party from Fort Smith, Arkansas, to Los Angeles, through northern Arizona. The party reached Flagstaff by Christmas.
1855 – While surveying a road from New Mexico to California, Lieutenant Beale's company camps at the current site of Flagstaff. The location got its name when his men stripped a local tree and ran a flag up the staff.
1859 – Gold is discovered near the confluence of the Gila and Colorado Rivers, creating Arizona's first "gold rush".
1860s
1862
February 14: Confederate Arizona officially becomes a territory of the Confederate States of America, consisting of the portion of the New Mexico Territory below the 34th parallel, with Mesilla, New Mexico as the territorial capital.
Gold is discovered north of Yuma, and the town of La Paz is founded. By the end of the year, it would be the most populous settlement in Arizona, and the capital of Yuma County. The following year, it would be considered for the capital of the Arizona Territory.
1866 – L. Zechendorf & Co. merchandisers opens in Tucson.
1867
November: Jack Swilling, resident of Wickenburg, establishes the Swilling Irrigating and Canal Company with the intent to develop the Phoenix area, which he became impressed with after viewing the area on a visit to Camp McDowell.
December: Swilling leads a group of 17 miners from Wickenburg to the Phoenix area and begins the process of developing a canal system.
Territorial capital moved from Prescott to Tucson.
1868
May 4: Phoenix is officially recognized by the Board of Supervisors of Yavapai County, which at that point contained Phoenix.
June 15: First post office in Phoenix is established, in the Swilling homestead, with Swilling as postmaster.
Swilling has completed almost 3 miles of his canals in Phoenix.
Mary Adeline Gray, the first European woman settler in Phoenix, and her husband Columbus, arrive.
Salt River floods for the first of many times during Phoenix's settlement.
1869 – St. Augustine Roman Catholic Church built in Tucson.
1870s
1870
October 20: Town site selected in what is currently downtown Phoenix.
Phoenix is laid out, original town site consists of 320 acres, or 0.5 square miles.
Population of the Salt River Valley reaches 240, the Arizona Territory has 9,658 people.
1700 acres under cultivation in the Salt River Valley.
Southern Pacific Railroad begins operating in Tucson.
Tucson Library Association organized.
St. Mary's Hospital opens near Tucson.
Terminus is renamed Casa Grande. Population by end of year was 33.
Population of Phoenix reaches 1,800; population of Tucson reaches 7,007.
Bien/McNatt House is built in Casa Grande.
Harshaw founded as a mining town. Currently a ghost town.
1881
February 25: Phoenix officially incorporated when Governor John C. Frémont signs "The Phoenix Charter Bill", and instituting a mayor-council form of government.
La Guardia, Phoenix's first Spanish language newspaper, begins publication.
Phoenix Rangers organized in response to hostile Apache activity in Tonto Basin.
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railroad begins operating in Tucson.
Methodist Church built in Tucson.
AT&SF's subsidiary, the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad constructs line from Albuquerque to California. The line passes through Flagstaff, and many towns in northern Arizona take their names from men working on the line: Kingman, Holbrook, Drake and Winslow.
The Kingman Daily Miner begins publishing. As of 2015, it is still in publication.
Robles Ranch established. Will become Three Points.
1883
Cotton cultivation is brought to the Salt River Valley.
Two smallpox outbreaks in Phoenix. City creates the position of Health Officer.
Mesa City incorporates.
Tucson chartered. Townsite is bounded by Speedway Boulevard on the north, 22nd Street on the south, 1st Avenue on the east, & on the west by Main Avenue from north of 18th Street, & 10th Avenue from south of 18th Street.
First church, a Methodist congregation, established in Flagstaff.
The Arizona Territory passes a law allowing cities, including Phoenix, to annex land surrounding the city, as long as it obtained the permission of the inhabitants of that area.
In Phoenix, the New York Store is opened by Sam Korrick; Nathan and Isaac Diamond open the Boston Store; and Baron Goldwater opens a branch of his Flagstaff store, M. Goldwater and Brothers.
1896
The Adams Hotel opens in Phoenix.
Date Palms are introduced into the Salt River Valley.
Arizona Overland Telephone Company opens in Flagstaff, giving residents long distance capability for the first time; headquartered in the Telegraph Building, built the same year.
September 15: Yuma Territorial Prison is closed.
1910s
1910
Speed limit in Phoenix is increased to 12 mph in city limits; city has 329 licensed cars.
Phoenix city schools establish an official segregation policy.
In Phoenix, the Adams Hotel is destroyed by fire, but is rebuilt.
Guidelines concerning surface water rights are established by the Kent decree.
Population in Phoenix reaches 11,134, Tucson hits 13,193.
The oldest synagogue in Arizona, Stone Avenue Temple, opens in Tucson. Currently known as Temple Emanu-El.
Fort Grant becomes the State Industrial School for Wayward Boys and Girls.
Statehood through World War II
1910s, continued
1913
November 22: Hotel San Marcos, the first golf resort in the state, opens in Chandler.
Phoenix adopts council-manager form of government (previously mayor-council), becoming one of the first cities in the country to adopt this form of government.
35% of the votes cast in Phoenix were by women.
Phoenix has 646 registered automobiles.
Ash Avenue Bridge is completed in Phoenix.
1914
Arizona votes to ban alcohol.
William Fairish becomes Phoenix's first manager.
Chandler High School is formed, classes are held at the Grammar School, and at several local merchants until a building can be constructed (which was done in 1922).
Phoenix's second high school, North High School, opens.
1940s
1940
Civic Center Association formed to raise funds for Phoenix Art Center. It was dissolved in 1955 when all fund raising and archival activities were taken over by the Fine Arts Association.
Urban renewal project in Phoenix creates 3 new housing developments: Marcos de Niza Project for Mexicans, Matthew Henson Project for Blacks, and Frank Luke Jr. Project for Whites.
November 26: Black troops from segregated units riot in Phoenix.
December: Gila River War Relocation Center is Arizona's fourth largest city, with a population of 13,348.
Japanese-Americans from Phoenix are relocated to internment camps at Sacaton and Poston.
Alzona Park in Phoenix is built by the Federal Government as worker housing.
Williams Auxiliary Army Airfield #5 is built near Chandler. Would become Chandler Memorial Airport, and is currently known as Gila River Memorial Airport.
The Phoenix population reaches 106,818, now 99th most populous city in the United States, and the largest in the Southwest; Mesa's population reaches 16,790; Chandler's population stands at 3,800.
Republican Barry Goldwater elected United States Senator, defeating the Senate Majority Leader Ernest McFarland; Republican John Howard Pyle elected governor
Arizona Public Service formed by the merger of Central Arizona Light and Power and Northern Arizona Light and Power
Racial segregation is banned at Sky Harbor Airport.
Adam Diaz becomes the first Hispanic on the Phoenix city council.
10 million gallon Pasadena city reservoir completed in Mesa.
1954
May 24: Chandler upgraded from a town to a city.
Peoria incorporated.
Phoenix finishes the desegregation of Public schools.
Tempe Airport purchased by the city of Tempe.
1955
January 24: Ira Hayes, one of the men made famous by the flag raising on Iwo Jima, and a member of the Pima Indian Tribe, was found dead of exposure near Sacaton.
Terminal 1 opens at Sky Harbor Airport, built at a cost of $835,000, it represented the most modern and efficient passenger terminals of its time. It was demolished in 1991.
In Phoenix, Metropolitan Bus Lines is purchased by L.A. Tanner and renamed Valley Transit Line. Tanner was unsuccessful in his attempts to also purchase the city-run municipal bus system.
Phoenix battles Scottsdale over annexation of unincorporated areas. This battle would last until an agreement was reached regarding "spheres of annexation influence" in 1964.
KTVK-TV opens operations as an ABC affiliate in Phoenix.
Agriculture falls to second behind manufacturing in Phoenix's economy.
L.A. Tanner is successful in purchasing the city-owned municipal bus system, merging it into his Valley Transit Line. All bus service in Phoenix is now unified.
Sunnyslope annexed by Phoenix.
Deer Valley airport opens.
The Francisco Grande hotel is opened in Casa Grande as the spring training location for the San Francisco Giants.
Glendale Community College, the second community college in the Maricopa Community College District, is created.
1966
August 9: Phoenix City Council unanimously approves the "Plan for the Phoenix Mountains", thereby creating the Phoenix Mountain Preserve.
Valley Transit Line is sold to American Transit Systems (headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri), and the transit system is renamed Phoenix Transit System.
Phoenix Mountains Preservation Council founded in August, to purchase all of the 7000 acres in the Phoenix Mountains Preserve, and a total of 9700 acres.
Remnants of Tropical Storm Norma slam into Phoenix, causing flooding and resulting in 23 deaths.
During the 1960s, Phoenix annexed 134.55 square miles of land, now totaling 245.5 square miles.
The Park of the Canals in Mesa is added to the National Register of Historic Places; work then commences for developing park facilities and later the botanical garden.
Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station opens, with two of three units on-line. It is the largest nuclear power plant (by net generation) in the United States.
Voters in Phoenix turn down a $10 billion referendum for a valley-wide rapid transit system, due to the cost and dissatisfaction with the elevated portions of the proposed system.
Phoenix Grand Prix is run in Downtown Phoenix in June.
During the 1990s, Phoenix annexed 54.79 square miles of land, now totaling 475.15 square miles.
"Transit 2000" proposition passes, approving construction of 24 miles of light rail with Phoenix city limits, named Valley Metro Rail.
Tempe city council passes motion approving an additional 5 miles of light rail to be constructed and linked to the Phoenix light rail system.
Population of Phoenix reaches 1,321,045; population in Mesa reaches 396,375.
2001
Glendale voters approve a sales tax increase to fund transportation improvements, including 5 miles of light rail to connect with the Metro Light Rail.
Arizona Diamondbacks defeat the New York Yankees in the World Series.
Maricopa County voters approve a 20-year continuation of the 1985 sales tax to fund transportation needs. The plan includes almost $25 billion in funding for: freeways, bus transit expansion, light rail, city streets, and bike and pedestrian paths.
^ abcdefghij"Tucson P.O.", Arizona Business Directory and Gazetteer, San Francisco: W.C. Disturnell, 1881
^A. Leonard Meyer (1888), Meyer's Business Directory of the City of Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, Ariz, OL7233806M{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Henley, David C. (1992). The Land That God Forgot: The Saga of Gen. George Patton's Desert Training Camp (revised ed.). Fallon, Nevada: Western Military History Association. p. 54. OCLC76951993.
^"About Us". Phoenix Mountains Preservation Council. Archived from the original on June 29, 2015. Retrieved June 29, 2015.
^D.L. Turner (2006). "Forgotten City of the Saints: Mormons, Native Americans, and the Founding of Lehi". Journal of Arizona History. 47 (1): 57–82. JSTOR41696951.
^"The Fountain". Fountain Hills Guide. Retrieved July 1, 2015.
^John Carl Warnecke and Associates (1967). Central Phoenix plan, first stage : work program for a planning and economic study of downtown-midtown Phoenix. John Carl Warnecke and Associates. OCLC19485397.
^"About Us". Mesa, Arizona: A New Leaf. Retrieved February 18, 2014.
Braatz, Timothy (2003). Surviving Conquest. University of Nebraska Press. ISBN978-0-8032-2242-7.
Gober, Patricia (2006). Metropolitan Phoenix. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN978-0-8122-3899-0.
Grady, Patrick (2012). Out Of The Ruins. Arizona Pioneer Press. ISBN978-0-615-55511-9.
Sheridan, Thomas E. (2012). Arizona: A History (Revised ed.). Tucson: University of Arizona Press. ISBN9780816599547.
VanderMeer, Philip (2010). Desert Visions and the Making of Phoenix, 1860–2009. Univ of New Mexico Press. ISBN978-0-8263-4891-3.
Further reading
Published in the 19th century
Patrick Hamilton (1881), "Chief Towns: Phoenix", Resources of Arizona, Prescott, Ariz{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Published in the 20th century
Maricopa County (Ariz.). Board of Supervisors (1908), "Phoenix", Salt River Valley, Arizona, offers productive lands, a healthful climate and rare opportunities to the investor and homeseeker, New York: Norman Pierce Co., OCLC16818598
Lykes, Aimee de Potter. "A Hundred Beers of Phoenix History", in G. Wesley Johnson, Jr., ed. Phoenix in the Twentieth Century: Essays in Community History (1993) pp 220–236, to 1981
American Cities Project (2013). "Phoenix". America's Big Cities in Volatile Times: City Profiles. Washington, D.C.: Pew Charitable Trusts.
Joseph Galaskiewicz; et al. (2013). "Studying the role of nonprofits, government, and business in providing activities and services to youth in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area". In Mario Luis Small; et al. (eds.). Reconsidering the Urban Disadvantaged: The Role of Systems, Institutions, and Organizations. Sage. ISBN978-1-4833-0656-8.